The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) Movie Review

Catching Fire is quite possibly the best movie adaptation of a book ever made, Not only does it include almost every detail from the book it also keeps pacing as well as any other action movie. The first half of the movie mainly follows Katniss dealing with the consequences of her actions from the first movie, including continuing her fake romance with Peta and dealing with President Snow’s threats because of her causing protests and rebellion. While the second half shows her in the 75th games which is a “quarter quell” where instead of having children from the 12 districts fight they choose from previous victors. The movie of course ends with a cliffhanger for the next movie, Mockingjay.

While the movie has many good parts there are of course some issues, many of which are more noticeable because of how well the book (written by Suzanne Collins) was made. For me the most notable problem was the exclusion of much of the train ride, for example when they are studying film of the older games to better understand how the other victors won. I find this to be a problem because in the book it is made to be a very important part.

However in my opinion there are many more things that are well done. Probably one of the best parts about this film is how well the actors portray how someone would react in their position, for example Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) does an excellent job of breaking down when she is about to enter the arena and sees Cinna being beaten. Another thing I liked very much about this movie was the setting, it does a very good job of mixing dystopian/sci-fi and being realistic.

One of the reasons I think that the movie was so well done was because of the director, Francis Lawrence who did a very good job of transitioning between scenes. Also I think he is at least partially responsible for how well done Katniss’s story arc is done such that in that beginning she is nervous and unsure about everything but by the end she is almost adjusted to her situation.

As I said originally I think that this movie is the best film adaptation of a book made. Even though this movie is not perfect there are many more things it did right then wrong, so overall I would rate it 4.5/5. I would also recommend it to anyone who enjoys the book series, action movies, drama or people who are fans of dystopian book.